I'm in flippin' Tamatave!

Ry Fianakaviana,

Tamatave is in Eastern Madagascar, considered the most primordial feeling, almost prehistoric area--mist-covered mountains, dense jungles, outlandish animals and people who speak a much different dialect then the rest of Madagascar. They sound like they are singing a song while they are speaking, and they laugh at the randomest times. Oddly, Tamatave is already my favorite area. I love the humidity, my companion (Elder Price), the awesome people (they say 'ia' for yes; it sounds like 'ya') and the experiences of my first couple days make me excited for what's to come.

At first, it was tough to be ripped out of Antsirabe that quick, but coming to Tamatave has been a blessing. The people here love learning. They love coming to church. They are humble even thought a lot of them are well off.  A lot of our investigators live in nice homes strewn throughout the jungle.  Looking back, I feel like my work in Antsirabe was like Johnny Appleseed. The work I did won't be seen in the near future, but once missionaries return to Antsirabe 2, hopefully some ready-for-picking apples are there.

The native clothes I'm wearing in this picture are called Malabary. One my investigators in Tana made matching ones for me and Elder Hammer. They are perfect pajamas, haha. 

Whack Experiences:

• Alternative Missionary: My first day here in Tamatave, while walking across the city bridge, we heard a voice yell, "Brothers! My dear brothers!" A frazzled French guy donning a full-white jumpsuit, alongside a greasy mullet and an unsettling, Joker-like smile came jogging over. He explained that he is serving a mission here in Madagascar for a few years to preach repentance to worst of the worst people. For about 10 minutes, we listened to his explanation of the horrible man he was about 5 years ago--hanging out with ladies of the night, doing cocaine everyday, etc. Fortunately, he said he left it all behind and came here to Madagascar to teach about his Jesus. He said his Jesus appears to him every night as he kneels down by his bed and screams, "I need you, Jesus! You are my man, my brother!" I have to admit, it was pretty convincing. Sad thing is though, when we walking to another time, we saw him talking to some inappropriately dressed women. Who knows, maybe he has righteous intentions with them.

• Price's Quotes: My new companion, Elder Price (Spencer) is one of the funniest guys I have ever met. When he was first in country, he was pushing 300 pounds with no neck to be seen. Having lost 90 pounds, he looks a lot better, holy cow. First off, he's a spiritual giant; second, I have never heard weirder things come out of someone's mouth so consistently. Each week, I'm going to share a quick quirk and quote of his.

He has an unhealthy obsession with firecrackers. I'll be peacefully studying, when all of the sudden, 6 firecrackers will detonate next to my foot causing an involuntary scream and some angry (mission appropriate) words from me. He'll always say, "Did I get ya?"

Me: "Were you a pyromaniac before your mission?"

Him: "Ah, I left that title a long time ago. I think I've now become a fire god."

• Malagasy Morsel of the Week - Fanantenana

Fanantenana means hope. We use it a lot due to it being the one of the base explainations of faith. Literally, it means 'to have one's self,' not totally clear, but a neat lil' word combo--fananana (possession) and tena (oneself). I like to think it means to be confident in your beliefs and who you are in addition to having yourself anchored by the principles taught by our parents and the scriptures.

Stories for Next Week:

-Saving a Puppy (in the process of writing this story, craziest experience of my mission for sure)

-The Betsimisaraka Tribe

-Muslim Racist

-Be Sofina

I'm loving it here in Tamatave! I'll send pictures next week! Love you all so much!

Mazotoa e hatrany!

Elder Soper

Mondo bizarro week!

I'm getting transferred to a place called Tamatave! Angaha?! Beforehand, I had no idea that I was leaving Antsirabe, but the problem is that about 30 missionaries are leaving Madagascar, and only 12 missionaries are coming in, not enough. As a result, the smaller areas in the mission need to be absorbed into other areas. Our Antsirabe area turned out to be the 2nd smallest area in the mission, so kaput. 

Initially, I was a bit down-trodden that I was leaving Antsirabe so soon (one transfer contrary to the expected 4 transfers). But, I am getting transferred to an amazing place, Toamasina--one of the more beautiful, hot and sweaty places in the mission apparently. I going from the coldest area to one of the hottest and rainiest areas. We'll be whitewashing half an area, so I'll have some work to do with my new comp, Elder Price!

The 4 AP's

Goodbye to Pat

The local kids

The kid (Onja) with his arm over my shoulder is my favorite kid here in Madagascar.

Recent converts: Florent's Family

Zeze

The two on the far left are also getting baptized soon. I think they were the two I taught the most since I was here. Elisa and Zo.

The two people I will miss the most: Setra and Thinasoa.

Saying bye to Schnoor again. He's going to Fort Dauphin!

President Tolotra and Franco (next branch president probably).

Miora - pretentious little girl that is flippin' cute.

Onja and Miora cried pretty hard when I said I was leaving.

Dolph, him and Setra helped us a lot. He talks ridiculously fast.

I accidentally kneed this zatovolahy in the ribs during soccer, but now we're friends. He's going on a mission in about ? months. Not sure, but real soon.

Raelsen Family. These people were awesome, but hard to teach because they just wanted to sing hymns. They still don't have a bapt. date.

Mine and Setra's last lesson together. Setra was my companion for the last 3 days. He even got permission to sleep at our house.

Our family closest to baptism. Hardis and Onja.

The Pascaud's. I always try to speak French, and they get really excited when I do, but then I accidentally use Malagasy words. I think they think I'm cool? They just crashed their truck this morning though, darn.

Malagasy building technique.

Elder Wilmot and I asked if we could get a tour of the building while waiting for baptismal interviews to be done, and I felt like the floor was going to fall through at any moment.

This week was packed with meat. I'll share the more weird experiences next week.

• Zone Conference: 

President Foote came down on Friday to hold zone conference for all the Antsirabe and Fianarantsoa missionaries. I can't believe how powerful of a human he is, spiritually and in all other aspects as well. He has amazing stories (i.e. flying a plane with no hood while bleeding to death); he consistently speaks in muscular rhetoric, and he has a befuddling knowledge of the Gospel. Not to mention, his hands are bigger than a breadbox, literally a spiritual giant. Zone conference was a great day to reenergize and tune-up for the upcoming months. I loved seeing the elders from Fianarantsoa, especially Elder Schnoor. Hopefully him and I will serve together sometime throughout our mission.

• Split w/ Elder ______: 

My split with Elder _______ was fun and all, but it wasn't fun at all. It was actually mindblowingly stressful. He kept trying to set up appointments in my area for me even though he didn't know my program. What was especially frustrating was that he kept trying to set up a time at 3 o' clock on P-Day (P-Day ends at 6 o' clock); plus, he doesn't even work P-Day nights himself, mahasosotra! In addition, after telling him a thousand times no, he kept trying to set up a soiree during my most important times, flirted with my investigators and swore at some loud kids in my area. I could go on and on about the difficult situations throughout the day. I love Elder _____, but he's got odd habits. One of the most stressful days, guh.

• Setra as My Companion: 

Since Elder Andriantinarisoa went up to Tana on Friday. We got President's permission to have Setra as my companion for three days; he even slept in our house! With him, I worked harder than I've ever worked on my mission. When I would say, "Hey, wanna take a snack break?" He would reply, "Nah, let's keep tracting." Diligent lil' bugger.

• Malagasy Morsel of the Week - Vatsim-Panahy:

Vatsim-panahy literally means supply or treat for the soul. It's what we say for spiritual thought. When we don't teach a full lesson, we share a couple scriptures along with a vatsim-panahy. Vatsim-panahy's are the perfect opportunity to use random scriptures, visual examples, proverbs and ideas for teaching. They are also used to focus on a certain commitment that the investigator is struggling to fulfill. One of my favorite vatsim-panahy's we shared was on the importance of prayer; we used the scriptures Luke 6:39 (can the blind lead the blind?) and Alma 34:17-27 (cry to him in all you do and your efforts will be guided and consecrated). After using an example that Christ is like the telephone that we can talk to God through, Ben, one of our investigators started breaking down crying. He said, "I thought God didn't care enough to talk to someone like me."

Stories for Next Week:

-Saving a Puppy (craziest experience of mission so far probably)

-Weird Tracting Strategies for the Cold-Hearted Here in Antsirabe

-Be Sofina

Thanks so much for all the letters! Sorry I'm so bad about responding!

Mandra-pihaonantsika indraika!

Love,

Elder Soper

Ry Fianakaviana,

First, some pictures:

On Thursday, I went out with Elder Stringfellow to his area, Manandona, which looks exactly like the scenery in countryside Utah. What the heck?! I ain't here to see a stupid familiar hills n' tree! C'mon. It was actually an amazing split. It was nice to work with somebody where the conversation flowed the whole day. The day flew by, and I didn't realize how hard we worked. 

• Let My People Go:

While walking on a bridge over a poop river, a woman yelled at us, "Give us Jesus!" So we were like, "Yeah, sure, here we come." As we walk into the house, we noticed there was a few too many dozen pictures of Christ on the walls. We learned this family prays with this church called "Let My People Go!" Their church meetings consist of speaking in tongues, reading only Moses' books, screaming, seizing up, writhing on the floor and refreshments. I can't deny I'm a little interested. When we began to teach them, they kept raising their hands up to the sky, yelling, "My Jesus!" and doing some odd krump moves. I'm assuming it was to signify their appreciation of our message, not sure. Hey, they were kind people.

• "Misy Devoly:"

We were teaching a 60 year-old recent convert named Gabriel--who just received the Melchizedek Priesthood--outside on a few rice sacks next to his prize rooster that he tied up to a stake in the ground. The lesson was going great (describing that alcohol is not okay to drink on holidays and Mosiah chapter 5) until a gruff, mean-looking rooster strutted over from an adjacent yard up to the rooster tied up to the stake. After some tense banter and squawks, they went at it. Stringfellow was sitting right next to them as a flurry of beeks, feathers and talons flew up right next to his face--one of the funniest faces of pure terror I've ever seen on someone. Gabriel yelled, "Misy devoly! Mivoaka!" or "There is devils! Get out!" Eventually, the roosters came to their senses, said sorry and we went back to teaching.

• Malagasy Nugget for the Week - Fisaorana (Gratitude):

To say, "You're welcome," it's "Tsisy fisaorana," which means 'no gratitude.' I was pondering in my brain, heart and a couple organs about the amount of blessings I take for granted. Yesterday, I met a lady whose baby has water in its heart. Normally, a parent would do anything to surgically repair their child's ailment, but this women doesn't have enough money--doesn't help that her husband left her. Slowly, her child is dying while she imagines what it would be like to be born into different circumstances; yet somehow, she's grateful for the life she has in her dirty, 20 square foot house working 24/7 washing other poor people's clothes for little to no money. What am I grateful for? Man, I hate writing what I'm grateful for, way boring. But, I'm a missionary, so I've got a lot to be grateful, and I need to recognize my blessings every once in a while.

What I'm grateful for:

I got a decent $1 haircut just barely.

A random Malagasy complimented my chin, didn't know I had a nice chin.

My stomach doesn't have problems right now.

My companion.

How much we laugh together.

Knees.

Malagasy is fun to speak and read.

It's not brutally cold like last P-Day.

I have time to read my parents' emails.

Iti Yogurt.

Food.

I have clothes that fit. The guy sitting next to me has tight clothes; he looks uncomfy.

Great mission president.

Thomas S. Monson.

The Malagasy dictionary.

Fanasan'ny Tompo.

The members here in Madagascar.

The investigators that seriously consider what we're saying.

Less-active families that try to change.

Amazing family.

Awesome dad.

Awesome mom.

Awesome older sister.

Lame older brother. jk

Awesome younger sister.

Babies.

My jacket.

The weird things that have happened to me.

Madagascar.

People that are genuine.

Rice.

Eggs, of course.

Bugboy 2000.

Education. 

Stories for Next Week:

-Teaching a Clown

-Split w/ Elder Cyusa

-Lake Tritriva

I had a great week! Elder Andriantinarisoa is doing way better now. He and I have finally hit our groove. There's a chance he will get transferred away this next week. Hohitantsika! Have a great week! Mandra-pihaonantsika indray!

Love,

Erdr Spr

Kaiza Kaiza Ianareo Mitsama!

This was much better than last week. Of course, a few tough experiences, but the funny and good experiences definitely overshadow them. Things are cold and sweaty at the same time here in Antsirabe!

Sarindra, she has three disabled sons who are all 20+ years old, but have minds like 6 year-olds; she takes care of them 24/7. She was also one of the first Malagasy sister missionaries

Elder Yaw Yeboah Kissi, the African King

I still haven't found a picture that accurately describes every day Antsirabe. This is what our area looks like most of the time though

I've never seen this kid not crying.

This boy Moroni pretending to receive revelation

Funny Experiences-

• Mahasosotra Kely Henry: Every time we pass one epicerie (small grocery shop), we try to scoot by it without Henry--who is constantly drunk--noticing us. Somehow, he always senses we are passing by, turns around and makes a face that looks like he either received a heart-stopping epiphany or just realized that cereal is actually just a soup. Then, smiling, he stumbles over toward us asking us for work and money, while saying horrible racist things about me. One day, after we told we had no work for him for tenth time, exasperated, I said, "Hey, I heard there's going to be no alcohol tomorrow." He instantly stopped smiling and said, "What, you're lying." "No, I heard that Madagascar's government is removing all the alcohol from the epiceries." Henry had the most devastated look on his face, huffed some swear words and said, "I need to buy alcohol tonight!" Whoops, kind of cruel, but Elder Andriantinarisoa and I were laughing so hard.

• "Matsiro Be Mihitsy" (Branch Soccer): On Saturday, we played a soccer game with our branch, Antsirabe 2 vs. another branch, Mahazoarivo. It was awesome because we were able to invite a less-active father and two twenty year-old investigator dudes that haven't really made any connections with members in the ward. Anyhow, there's one guy in our ward who is pretty short and stocky (and has big ears) and he yelled out commands to everyone throughout the whole game. Our team started out suffering and let in a couple humiliating goals, so he called a quick time-out. He started desperately trying to explain how important "iray roa" (one-two or give and go) is. He kept referring back to a particular "iray roa" play that he and I executed, saying, in all seriousness, it was "matsiro be mihitsy" or so "dang tasty/delicious."

• Exposed: That one family that I tried convinced I was a body-builder before the mission, that I slept for 3 days straight, and could speak 6 languages fluently, finally exposed my lies. They were very skeptical this last Thursday, interrogating and quizzing me more than usual. Forced to backpedal with my limited Malagasy, I eventually messed up and changed a key details. They started laughing really hard, and kept saying, "I knew he was lying the whole time!" I'm pretty sure they never genuinely believed me, but they simply enjoyed running along with the joke. Darn it. It was fun while it lasted.

Better Week Overall:

Since last week, things with Elder Andriantinarisoa have improved. He's slowly starting to joke around with me again. For some reason, it always seems like our afternoons are really tough, walking slowly, not talking and tense communication about where we're going. On the other hand, nights are really fun. When we get into the groove of working, we joke around, teach together better and teach each other English and Malagasy. We both have our flaws, and I probably need a little more patience with his mood swings, but it's been a blast working with him,

Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Soper